Ernesto Che Guevara (Spanish Ernesto Che Guevara, full name - Ernesto Rafael Guevara de la Serna; June 14, 1928, Rosario, Argentina - October 9, 1967, La Higuera, Bolivia) - Latin American revolutionary, commander of the 1959 Cuban Revolution and Cuban state activist.
Childhood and youth
Ernesto Guevara de la Serna was born in 1928 in Argentina. He was the first child in the family of an architect who had tried unsuccessfully to start a business over the years. On the paternal side, Ernesto was an Argentine in the twelfth generation, and on the maternal side in the eighth generation. His mother was one of the first female car enthusiasts in the country.
At the age of two, Ernesto fell ill with asthma, due to which he did not go to school. His mother taught him to read and write. The disease was so severe that Che Guevara was forced to inject himself with adrenaline injections, jokingly later calling himself an "adrenaline adventurer." After the revolution, he wrote with bitter irony: "I love my inhaler more than a pistol … I tend to think deeply during severe asthma attacks."
He graduated from high school with excellent marks. At the age of 19, he entered the medical faculty of the University of Buenos Aires, where the course took three years instead of seven years. As a student, he traveled around Argentina on a motorcycle that he called “Rocinante”.
It is believed that Ernesto Guevara's views were largely shaped in the early 1950s, during his motorcycle trip to South America, which he made with his friend Alberto Granado. For several months, friends visited almost all countries of the continent: they worked in hospitals for lepers, helped the peasants. Friends visited copper mining sites in Chile, crossed the Atacama Desert, visited the ruins of Machu Picchu in Peru, and swam on Lake Titicaca.
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In August 1952, Che returned to Buenos Aires, where he began preparing for exams and his thesis on allergies. In March 1953, Guevara received his doctorate in dermatology as a surgeon. Not wanting to serve in the army, he caused an asthma attack with the help of an ice bath and was declared unfit for military service. Having a medical degree, he decided to go to a Venezuelan leper colony in Caracas to Granado, but later fate brought them together only in the 1960s in Cuba.
Che Guevara went to Guatemala. On June 17, 1954, armed groups of Armas from Honduras invaded Guatemala, executions of supporters of the Arbenz government and bombing of the capital and other cities of Guatemala began. By the way, in the early 1950s Che jokingly signed the letters “Stalin II”.
In Mexico, the legendary “Che” prefix stuck to Ernesto Guevara, who came to this country from Guatemala. In his communication with Cubans in Spanish, native to both sides, Ernesto often interspersed his speech with the interjection “che” inherent in Argentines - from Spanish like “well”, “hey you!”.
Preparing an expedition to Cuba
At the end of June 1955, two Cubans, one of whom turned out to be Nico Lopez, Che's acquaintance from Guatemala, came to the Mexico City hospital to see the doctor on duty, Ernesto Guevara. He told Che that the Cuban revolutionaries had been released from the convict prison under an amnesty and began to flock to Mexico City and prepare an expedition to Cuba.
A few days later, an acquaintance with Raul Castro followed, in which Che found a like-minded person, later saying about him: “It seems to me that this one is not like the others. At least he speaks better than others, besides, he thinks. " At this time, Fidel, while in the United States, collected money from emigrants from Cuba for the expedition. Speaking in New York at a rally against Cuban dictator Batista, Fidel said: "I can tell you with full responsibility that in 1956 we will gain freedom or become martyrs."
Fidel and Che met on July 9, 1955. At the meeting, the details of the upcoming hostilities in Orient were discussed. Fidel argued that Che at that time “had more mature revolutionary ideas compared to me. Ideologically, theoretically, it was more developed. Compared to me, he was a more advanced revolutionary. " By morning Che, whom Fidel made, in his words, the impression of an "exceptional person", was enrolled as a doctor in the detachment of the future expedition.
Departure by "Granma"
At 2 am on November 25, 1956 in Tuspan, the detachment landed on the Granma. The police received a "mordida" (bribe) and were absent from the pier.
At that time there was a storm at sea and it was raining, "Granma" with the lights extinguished lay on a course for Cuba. Che recalled that "out of 82 people, only two or three sailors, and four or five passengers, did not suffer from seasickness." The ship gave a leak, as it turned out later, because of the open tap in the lavatory, however, trying to eliminate the draft of the ship with the pump out of operation, they managed to throw canned food overboard.
Cuban revolution
Guevara and the Castro brothers drew up a plan to land an armed expedition in the Cuban province of Oriente and continue the struggle in the Sierra Maestra mountains. Over time, thanks largely to the lessons of the gray-haired Bayo, Che Guevara will develop his own strategy of guerrilla warfare (he will tell about it in detail in his two books). Its essence boiled down to the fact that the partisan detachment for victory must gradually grow into an army that can defeat another, stronger and more supported from the outside.
During the expedition on "Granma", suffering from pitching and asthma, the Argentinean was almost mistaken for dead and thrown overboard. When landing on land, falling under the bombing of Batista's troops and emerging from the mangroves with heavy losses, the detachment split into three groups: one - three people led by Fidel, the other - six led by Raul, the third - seven fighters - with Juan Almeida, which included Che Guevara, wounded in the neck. “Something pushed me hard in the chest, and I fell,” Che said.
As a result, only 22 of the 82 rebels reached the agreed place. Including: Fidel Castro, Raul Castro, Ernesto Che Guevara, Camilo Cienfuegos, Ramiro Valdez, Juan Almeida. These members of the July 26 Movement were destined not only to play a decisive role in the years of the guerrilla struggle, but also to lead large-scale transformations already in the new Cuba, occupying key posts in the revolutionary government.
In May 1957, it was planned to arrive from the United States of the ship "Corinthia" with reinforcements. To divert attention from their landing, Fidel gave the order to storm the barracks in the village of Uvero. Che took part in the battle for Uvero and described it in Episodes of the Revolutionary War.
However, the landing from "Corinthia" ended unsuccessfully: according to official reports, all revolutionaries who disembarked from this ship were killed or captured. Batista decided to forcibly evacuate local peasants from the slopes of the Sierra Maestra (where the revolutionaries were hiding at that time) in order to deprive the revolutionaries of the population's support, but many of them resisted the evacuation, helped Fidel's detachment and joined their ranks.
On June 5, 1957, Fidel Castro allocated a column under the leadership of Che Guevara, consisting of 75 fighters. Che was awarded the rank of commandant (major). During the revolution in Cuba in 1956-1959, the commander was the highest rank among the rebels, who deliberately did not assign each other higher military ranks. The most famous Comandantes are Fidel Castro, Che Guevara, Camilo Cienfuegos. During his life, Che, leading the partisan detachments, was wounded in battles 2 times. He wrote to his parents after the second wound: “I have used up two, there are five left,” meaning that he, like a cat, has seven lives.
Meanwhile, the confrontation continued. Government propaganda against Fidel and his allies called for national unity and harmony, as strikes and insurgencies spread in Cuba's cities.
In March 1958, the US government announced an embargo on the delivery of weapons to Batista's forces, although the armament and refueling of the aircraft of the government forces continued for some time. At the end of 1958, according to the constitution (statute) announced by Batista, presidential elections were to take place.
In Cuba, no one spoke openly about communism or socialism, and the reforms openly proposed by Fidel were moderate and not denied even by pro-American politicians.
Batista is defeated
The story of how Che received an important state post after the overthrow of the Batista regime is widely known. The revolutionaries gathered. Someone asked the question: "Are there real economists among us?" The answer is silence. Everyone looked at Che Guevara. An incorrigible romantic, “flying in his dreams,” at this time was making notes in a notebook. But here, at the request of my comrades, I digress from the notes. He heard: "Are there real communists among us?" “Yes, there is,” Che raised his hand. "So you will be the head of the Central Bank!" - answered the revolutionary.
On February 23, 1961, Ernesto Che Guevara was appointed Cuba's Minister of Industry, in charge of which nationalized industries and dozens of new enterprises were transferred.
But there is another side of the coin … Since Fidel Castro came to power in Cuba, repressions against his political opponents began. Initially, it was announced that only "war criminals" would be tried, but the new government did not stop there.
After the insurgents occupied the city of Santiago de Cuba on January 12, 1959, a show trial was held there over 72 police officers and other persons, in one way or another connected with the regime and accused of "war crimes". When the defense lawyer began to rebut the allegations of the prosecution, presiding officer Raul Castro said: “If one is guilty, everyone is guilty. They are sentenced to be shot! " All 72 were shot.
All legal guarantees against the accused were canceled by the "Partisan Law". The investigative report was considered incontrovertible evidence of a crime; the lawyer simply admitted to the charges, but asked the government to show generosity and mitigate the sentence. Che Guevara personally instructed the judges:
Having built many labor camps, Che sentenced to death hundreds of thousands of helpless Cubans, including women and children as young as 14 years old. He personally executed more than 180 people, although some historians cite a much larger number. In the camps, a special team was even formed to combat homosexuals, who were also imprisoned in the camps. Journalists were also deprived of their freedom of reporting, despite the previous promises of the new Cuban regime.
Outside Cuba
Che Guevara was, first of all, a revolutionary, he was drawn to “liberate” new countries. He repeatedly appealed to Fidel with a request to release him from Cuba. In the end, Che Guevara was entrusted with the leadership of a group that was to go to the aid of the revolutionaries in the Belgian Congo, now Zaire.
The fighting in Africa took place in the most difficult conditions. On November 1, 1965, Che received an urgent message from his Cuban comrades in Tanzania stating that the Tanzanian authorities, after consulting with representatives of a number of African countries, had decided to refuse aid to the Congolese rebels. And the Cuban squad must leave the Congo. Che flew out of Tanzania quietly, hiding his face during the six hours of the flight.
From Africa, he went to Czechoslovakia, to Prague in March 1966, where he was illegally. He was saving up strength for a new expedition, which he decided to conduct in Bolivia.
Bolivia
Che Guevara planned the Bolivian operation in early 1966. Che, who sincerely believed that “all of Latin America was pregnant with revolution,” regarded it as a prelude to a great guerrilla war that would sweep the entire continent and free Latin America from the influence of the United States.
On October 23, 1966, Ernesto Guevara finally left Cuba. 17 Cubans went to Bolivia together with Che, all of them were not yet 35 years old. Despite the fact that the backbone of the detachment was made up of Bolivians, Che managed to create a very strong partisan detachment.
The last days
In early October 1967, 17 partisans were surrounded by special forces in the El Yuro gorge. Che was wounded in the leg and taken prisoner. After several days of interrogation and torture, an order from the high command arrived from La Paz. The message said: "Proceed with the destruction of Senor Guevara." The order, signed by the president of the military government of Bolivia, Rene Barrientes Ortugno, was transmitted in encrypted form to CIA agent Felix Rodriguez. The latter entered the room where Che was kept and said to him: "Comandante, I'm sorry."
The execution order was passed despite the desire of the US government to transport Che Guevara to Panama for further interrogation. The executioner volunteered to be Mario Tiran, a 31-year-old sergeant in the Bolivian army, who personally wished to kill Che Guevara in revenge for his three friends killed in earlier battles with Che Guevara's squad.
Who was Che Guevara - a hero or a murderer? The only thing we can say for sure is that he was driven by a great goal, but he used cruel methods.
Fidel and Raul Castro's sister Juanita, who knew Guevara closely, wrote about him in the biographical book “Fidel and Raul, my brothers. Secret History :
Author: Eggheado